We Present to Thee

We have fully released a summer class schedule. *Cue flamboyant bow.

Some of us made changes. Some of us are holding strong and sticking with what we’ve been doing. Some of the changes were time related and some were an entire switch of days and times. Some classes got dropped off entirely for the summer.

We worked really hard to come up with something that we thought would offer “something for everyone.”

Then, promptly after releasing it, we heard from many of you that - you hated it.

You stopped short of saying you hated us for making all those stupid changes anyway, but it sort of felt that way even without the words. So I, Jess, took a little time to lick my wounds and then I decided to ask - who among you has done your job so perfectly in such a way that you consistently hit your mark for every. single. person that requires something of you? Which of you never disappoints a coworker or handles every one of your duties and then makes sure that everyone else is fully supported in their duties also? Will that Slim Shady please stand up? - And I say “that” instead of “the” under the assumption if there is a person out there consistently running above average at everything they do every single day they do it - that there is likely only one.

It’s just not reality. Nor is it feasible for us to have perfected a schedule that every single person would have loved. Because if we offer classes at four time slots every morning so any and all people can fit a class into their day, then the instructors are severly overwhelmed and probably quitting their jobs by July.

If we offer classes in four time slots, the patrons who like to workout in the multipurpose room are irritated because the space is taken up for most of the morning with classes.

If we offer four class options every morning and at least two of them aren’t very well attended, that doesn’t compute very well on a monetary standpoint and then the city officials and the taxpayers are wondering why the money is going to pay instructors when they only have one or two people in a class.

In short - more class times makes more people annoyed than happy.

So what did we do? We decided to offer two options, three times a week. We opted to leave the second (later) option off of Fridays because we know many people leave on Fridays for vacations and camping and summer stuff. Similarily, we opted to leave off the early option on Mondays because people get back from said vacations and camping and summer stuff and they unpack and get groceries and pick up the dog from the kennel and after they’ve done all that THEY ARE TIRED, MAN. Prioritze your sleep. There’s no class to get up for anyway.

This was our best workable offering. Best for the instructors schedules (instructors who also are holding their regular jobs, running kids around and want to do the vacations and camping and summer stuff too.)

Best for the other patrons, who also want to have access to the multipupose room for their multipurpose workouts. Best for the budget, (ahem, assuming we have people in those classes,) and hopefully, best for people who need to get to work early (there’s a 6am option - it’s done by 6:30!) or those who want to sleep a bit (there’s a 7am option - it’s done by 7:30!)

We hope to see you at some point in our summer session. Whether that’s on the regular, or sporadically. Whatever works for you, we’d love to have you. And hey - remember, prioritize your sleep sometimes this summer. Your brain health depends on it.

A Hallow Hole

This place has been the epitome of a Bruno Mars track lately. “Whatcha doin’? Where you at? Oh, you got plans?”

Not plans, per se, Bruno, so much as a job that pulls in a wide variety of directions.

Apologies, for starting a Fit Team blog, hitting the ground running and then fizzling out like a toddler after a sugar crash. The time away has been filled with the best of intentions and the worst of follow through. …Which seems like it should be very relatable to many (many!) people - in relation to their exercise journey.

You know people like this, right? You mention how much you enjoy a certain fitness class and they remark that they’ve never tried it and you offer, “You should come with me next time,” and next time they have an excuse why they can’t.

Or you mention to someone how much better you feel after (insert your go-to exercise here; a run, some yoga, a strength training session,) and they say they might have that kind of time someday, but currently their life is too busy for that. As though you didn’t get up at the butt-crack of dawn in order to get this in even though you also might have enjoyed an extra 40 minutes of sleep instead.

Many people have excuses as to why they can’t/aren’t exercising regularly. And let’s be clear, unless their doctor has expressly forbidden them from doing any exercise for medical reasons, the ‘why’ that they are offering is an excuse. Full stop. No further questions, Your Honor.

So, I won’t sit here and give you an excuse as to why the blog has been as vacant as a mall parking lot, I will instead say, oops - my bad and I absolutely intend to do better. Luckily for me, better could still be once-a-week-barely-there-effort and it would still classify as better. I endeavor to take solid baby steps out of the vacant parking lot.

I wonder if everyone who offers excuses can say they are trying to do the same…?

The Challenge of Challenge Creating

We just dropped a new challenge for the month of April and we are can-barely-contain-ourselves excited for this one. It was a labor of love to create. It was created and recreated three times over. It was added to and subtracted from and was borne of scribbles and scratch notes and morphed into something challengingly pretty.

Community challenges are a vibe for us. For a few reasons. We love reaching out to people to engage with them regarding their health and fitness goals and the what-are-you-doing-to-achieve-those-goals, Stephanie?? You can’t just tell people about them!

We love utilizing our creativity to combine things we love with things we don’t so much love and forcing a combination of those things into a semblance of how can we make this a little bit fun, a little bit work and something that will actually DO SOMETHING for someone’s life?

Which is the real kicker. We could put out 30-day challenges every single month of the year. Heck a simple Google search will produce many challenges you can join supporting a variety of organizations or causes. You could do any one or multiple of those. But we want more. Something more. Something you have to sink your teeth into and not just say you’re going to do it and fall off in the second week like some New-Year’s-Resolution-gone-May. It has to be workable. But it has to push you as well. Without those two components, it’s pretty paper. And worse, it will bring no value and certainly no change to your lifestyle.

Which is, the ultimate goal for a challenge. Finding a balance between hard-enough-to-challenge you but not so-stinking-difficult-I’m-not-doing-even-half-of-this. We want you to do this with us. So it has to be doable. But challenging.

So challengingly doable.

Doable-ly challenging.

Does that make sense?

No? Well, how about this? Give this some thought. Are you in the mood for something that pushes you a little bit? A little voice in your head nagging at you to do one thing better. Just one little thing better each day than you maybe did it the day before.

We want to be that little voice. But you have to sign up to do this with us - otherwise we’re just talking to ourselves here.

…Not as though that’s uncommon, but hey, we don’t need you harping at us about that. We already talk to ourselves about it enough.

Be Happy and Know It

For you. For what you’re trying to accomplish with your health and fitness goals. For the life you have created for yourself. But also, for your bestie, when she accomplishes one of her goals too.

Wait, what? That’s her thing. Why is that listed in my reasons to be happy??

Because she’s your bestie. Because you know her goals and you probably know every step she has taken to work toward them. She has likely shared and even overshared some pieces of her progress. And we’re talking about her health and fitness goals. Whatever they are, it wasn’t something she could just have her rich uncle buy for her. This is the kind of stuff that requires effort and sweat-equity and there’s not a lot of shortcuts offered in this space, so you know - she worked.

So be happy for her. For her progress. For the results. Because her progress in no way, shape or form negates your progress. Her accomplishments do not halt your progress. This isn’t a race where one is the winner and then the other is a clear loser. The only setback you can have in accomplishing your own goals is by the choices you make.

If your bestie set out to tackle a goal and she got it, you, as her bestie should be the first one standing, and the loudest clapper in her crowd. Buy her a trinket to commemorate her goal. Take her out for coffee or whatever it is the two of you drink when you’re together. Or at the very least send her a heartfelt text telling her that you are proud of her. Whatever you do - do something. And do it with all the happiness you have. Not all the happiness you can muster because you shouldn’t be digging deep to find happiness for your own best friend. It should be as automatic as cooing at a baby or talking baby talk to a puppy.

Happiness is fleeting and life can be hard. So when we have moments of happiness in our own lives, we should grab onto them and hold them for a moment. Likewise when your best bud has a moment of happiness, help her celebrate it. Make sure she knows it’s a-okay to feel that joy in front of you because you are happy for her too.

Let’s take the days of feeling petty jealousy for others’ accomplishments extinct like the dinosaurs. Let’s grab any and every reason to be happy that we can. Even if it means someone beat us to the finish. When that someone is someone you’re close to - be happy (genuinely happy) for them as well.

Meet My AI Trainer

In the days of AI becoming more popular, it is only a matter of time before some jobs become replaced by it entirely. And Personal Trainer sits squarely in the middle of this AI-job-seeking dartboard.

It’s true. We won’t deny it. Already, with AI still in it’s funky graphics, occasional misspelled word, and where-did-that-sentence-come-from primitive form - people can readily take to ChatGPT or whatever upgraded version of Ask Jeeves they are using and demand a workout program of varying types in the prompt box.

And the results are fairly decent. We know. We’ve checked. (We would be pretty stupid not to.) And not only are they fairly decent, they’re all but free also.

So why would anyone take the route of choosing an in-person personal trainer when after a few clicks of their keyboard they can be in their workout space, sweating up a storm, saying thank you to their new friend AI Personal Trainer Patty.

Go you. And go Patty too. Really, we mean that with all due sincerity.

As people who want, like really and truly want, everyone they encounter to fall in love with fitness or some aspect of it, we absolutely do not begrudge people for taking the AI route when choosing their workout program. Why would we? If it helps you fall in love with fitness, that is the ultimate goal. If we were angry about it, would we really be able to sit here and claim we want people to fall in love with fitness? No. What we would really be saying is we want people to like OUR brand of fitness. Which is not the case at all.

In this building we have two personal trainers on staff. We have 12 fitness instructors teaching various types and levels of classes. Even with the maximum amount of time devoted there’s no way we could reach every person in our community with some various form of fitness. There are only so many hours in a day and most of us prioritize sleep.

So, we certainly don’t want anyone to think the AI option is something you should only whisper about when any of us are around. Go ahead, introduce us to AI Personal Trainer Patty. We don’t mind. We want you to find your happy place with fitness. And if that’s with Patty, then we hope you and Patty have much success together. And if the day comes where you feel like you might like to try something different, maybe deviate from Patty’s carefully cultivated plan a bit, well then come on in and join a class. Or give one of our trainers a call. THAT is what we’re here for. When you want to try a little something different. Tell Patty you’ll get back to her plan tomorrow and come on in and join us. Fall in love with whatever version of fitness works for you.

I Can Do Hard Things

Some people live by this mantra. I can do hard things. Sure, they’re scary. Sure, I’m probably going to sweat profusely just thinking about tackling this thing. But within my known limitations, I most certainly will attempt it and complete it to the best of my ability.

While others live with more hesitation, that sounds hard, I would rather not attempt that. Picture Fat Amy in Pitch Perfect saying, “yeah, no, don’t sign me up for cardio.” If something SOUNDS hard, they back away slowly. Their brain repeatedly hits the RETREAT! RETREAT! button until they are of a safe distance.

Rushing headfast into things is not better than approaching it cautiously. Where the problem comes in is the line between cautious and can’t. And that can be a thin, miniscule, fine-tip-Sharpie drawn line that perhaps someone doesn’t even know they have crossed - until you look back.

Doing hard things might be tough. It might make you sweat just thinking about it. But trying them, giving them some effort and even if completion wasn’t what you hoped is still far, far better than regret. The regret of looking back and saying, “I should have tried that when I had the chance,” that will sit with you and sting a lot longer than the sweat burning in your eyes when the going got tough.

If you’re forcing us to make a blanket statement it would be You Can Do Hard Things. You can approach these things like a 7th grade running back wearing pads for the first time or you can come at it with the hesitation of a little cat who is not at all sure about coming out to play - either way, you can do them. You may not do them perfectly the first time (who among us does??) You may not do them as well as you hoped you would or you may do them so poorly you laugh at yourself the entire time (who among us hasn’t done this??) But that’s still part of the experience. That is looking back and being proud of yourself for trying and laughing as you retell the story later to your spouse or your mom. You did it. In some way, shape, or form - you didn’t back away from it. You get to go forward deciding if you want to try again or chalk it up to that was funny but not for me.

What you don’t get to do is sit in that tub of regret. And good on you for that. That’s a gross place to be.

Trainer Tracey's 26

She wrote one for you last year and she has done it again! Trainer Tracey’s 26 truths you may not want to hear, but need to. No trends, no shortcuts, no excuses.

You may want to cover any vulnerable areas here - if you are someone who is particularly sensitive to truth. The following list was written to a live audience. If you are a living, breathing human, then this is for you.

Without further ado: Trainer Tracey’s 26 as you head into ‘26.

1. The workout you’re avoiding is probably the one you need most.

2. No program works if you don’t actually do it.

3. Your body adapts to what you repeatedly demand of it.

4. You don’t need motiviation, you need discipline.

5. If your plan depends on when life slows down, it is not a plan. (It’s an excuse.)

6. Progress is slow, quitting is instant.

7. Results don’t come from comfort, growth lives in effort.

8. If it was easy, everyone would be fit.

9. Perfect form matters more than heavy weight.

10. The scale is a tool, not a judge.

11. Consistency beats intensity EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

12. You can’t out train a bad diet - just stop trying.

13. Form first. Ego last. The hospital sees plenty of ‘strong’ people.

14. No one is coming to fix your health. Pick up the weights.

15. Rest days are a part of training, not a sign of weakness.

16. More workouts won’t fix bad sleep or worse habits.

17. Athletes are built, not born. And the same goes for confidence.

18. Sweat doesn’t equal progress. Smart work does.

19. Your warmup is not optional, neither is your recovery.

20. If you’re always sore, you’re not hard-core - you’re under recovered.

21. Short and focused workouts beat long distracted ones every time.

22. Excuses burn zero calories.

23. Motivation is a feeling; discipline is a skill. Learn it.

24. Strength training will not make you bulky.

25. Don’t be someone who only appreciates their health when they can’t do something. Appreciate your capabilities.

26. This list won’t change you - only actions can do that.

** tap, tap ** Is anyone still there??

Hello?

If you made it through to the end, we have a question for you; which one was your favorite? Which one resonated with you the most? And - last question - its okay if the answer is no but, are you going to take any of them and apply them to yourself in the upcoming year?

Talk About Treats

Are there people out there who are afraid if they start coming to fitness classes that we (the instructors) are going to start razzing them about their eating habits?

We’re asking in our serious voice here. We really and truly want to know if that’s a legit thing. Because it kind of seems like it might be. We hear things. We cannot do the impossible and turn off our hearing when we are in public spaces. So we sometimes hear people conversing about this. Conversations that go a little something like:

Person A: I’m not going to bother going to a class where I’m going to be made to feel bad about eating Christmas cookies. I already feel bad enough about myself, I don’t need someone else to help me feel worse.

Person B: Oh totally. And you know (that instructor) would probably never eat a Christmas cookie so there’s no way she understands. She probably doesn’t even know how good Christmas cookies are!

Person A: Yeah, a real cookie-Scrooge - and I am not down with taking advice from people who can’t even eat an occasional cookie.

Person B: So I guess that settles it - we will just have to be okay with our cookie-bodies and we won’t take any classes so no one can make us feel bad about them.

Side note - referred to instructor DOES eat Christmas cookies. Said instructor very much wanted to open a package and stuff two in her mouth right there just to prove it. But said instructor just walked by and people in conversation didn’t even notice the steam plumes coming out of her ears.

Weird, right??

Here’s a nutty little tidbit for anyone who may have answered the initial question ‘yes.’ (Or for the two people in the overheard conversation.) Our Fit Team instructors are incredible. And incredibly real. We have hearing capabilities AND most of us eat cookies. We have never nor would ever shame someone for eating something that we ourselves partake in and we certainly wouldn’t do so in front of a class. Our instructors have day jobs and kids and pets. We take on instructing because WE LOVE TO HELP.

Full stop.

That’s the end. Right there. We don’t love to help shame people about their choices. We just love to help. Whether we’re helping you find a better head space after our class, find a new exercise you can do on your own, find a group where you fit in, or find a way to tackle your workout in 30 minutes - we just want to help.

That’s the reason every one of us teaches.

Will we talk to you about Christmas cookies? Sure. If you want to swap a recipe or tell us about a family favorite. We’d love to talk about it.